The VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange on June 20 lost 6.57 points, or 1.16 percent, to close at 560.78 points.

After a sluggish morning trading, share holders boosted selling activities in the afternoon, creating pressure on stock prices, while buyers took advantage of the market decline to buy cheap stocks.

This helped boosted the market liquidity with more than 123.4 million shares changing hands and a significant amount of 2.5 trillion VND (119 million USD) injected into the southern market, 42 percent higher than the previous trading session by value.

Losses from market pillars such as Masan Group (MSN), Hoa Sen Group (HSG) and PetroVietnam Drilling (PVD) contributed largely to the VN-Index's loss on the day.

Masan Group fell by 6.3 percent to 88,500 VND (4.2 USD) a share.

With decliners outnumbering advancers by 18-5, the VN-Index, tracking the performance of the southern bourse's top stocks by capitalisation and liquidity, slid by 1.07 percent to end at 607.23 points.

Sacombank (STB) was the most active stock on the day with a significant 23.66 million shares traded, 23.5 million of which were purchased by foreign buyers.

STB rose by 2.33 percent to 21,500 VND (1 USD) a share, among five gainers in the VN30-Index package.

Foreign investors purchased a net 367.53 billion VND (17.4 million USD) shares on the southern bourse on the day, rising nearly three times over the previous trading.

The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Exchange was on downward trend for three consecutive days, losing 0.16 percent to 76.31 points and the HNXFF-Index extended loss by 0.15 percent to 76.87 points.

As investors became cautious, the trading volume and value declined by respectively 50 percent and 40 percent to 34.8 million shares and 411.5 billion VND (19.4 million USD).

The HNX30-Index, composed of the top stocks, fell by 0.23 percent to 152.63 points.

On both bourses, foreign investors purchased a net volume of 20.2 million shares, rising by 217 percent over June 19, and a net value of 402.9 billion VND (19.04 million USD), up 139 percent.-VNA